After a heated discussion on Tuesday, Brooklyn residents rejected a plan to lease space inside the town’s community center for the district’s probate court.

More than 100 residents turned out to the Brooklyn Middle School for the town meeting, which ended after voters decided by a 73 to 41 ballot vote not to lease 1,500 square-feet in the Clifford B. Green Community Center to the Northeast Probate District Court. The decision would have entailed moving the town’s recreation department out of the South Main Street building, which is also home to the regional children’s court, the Northeast District Department of Health and the Quinebaug Senior Center.

“I don’t know what’s next,” First Selectman Austin Tanner said. “I guess (the probate court) will have to look for other property.”

The probate court, which serves Brooklyn, Ashford, Eastford, Pomfret, Putnam, Woodstock and Thompson, is housed in Thompson Town Hall, but complaints concerning a lack of privacy and space prompted town leaders from across the region in January to approve its move. It’s likely those leaders will meet next to mull their options.

Several residents at Tuesday’s meeting expressed concern about the town’s proposed lease rate, which called for the court to pay $7,500 a year for the space, equal to $5 per square foot. As landlord, Brooklyn would be responsible for utility and outdoor maintenance costs.

“I think most would agree that $5 a square foot, plus the expenses and the relocation of the recreation department may not be in the town’s best interest,” resident Joe Voccio said.

Tanner said renovating the Tiffany Street center would cost about $4,600, while Brooklyn’s share of the South Main Street building overhaul was pegged at $1,317.

Recreation Director Bucky Lohbusch said moving his department could curb an increasingly profitable system. He said the department has posted steadily increasing revenues for the last five years.

“And part of that is because people know where we’re located and they’re comfortable with us there,” he said.